Character Creation Rules:
Use the 2nd edition rules, but with the first edition language rules. For those not familiar with the 1st edition rules they are explained at the bottom of the page. Characters are also entitled to 2 points for a hobby skill. It must be a real hobby, no combat skills.
Include the priorities with your character at the top of your record sheet.
Characters may use gear from any of the source books with the following restrictions.
1) No security or military grade gear without prior approval of the
GM. Prior approval
will require a good reason for you to have the gear based on your
history and current situation. It will also require the appropriate contacts.
2) No alpha, beta, or higher grade 'ware at the start of the game.
3) I STRICTLY enforce the rule which says no beginning character may
start with gear
rated higher than rating level 6. Unless otherwise noted.
4) Mages may buy any magic items they can afford and bond. A caveat--
glowing like a Christmas tree in Astral Space is bound to attract unwanted
attention. I *WILL* roll to
see that any bonding attempt are successful.
5) Mages *MAY* initiate as starting characters if they wish to spend
the karma cost out
of their initial force points. However, if they chose to do so, they
must self-initatiate and
they may not use any of the ordeals to reduce the cost of initiation.
6) I do require all players to submit a background for their characters.
This background
must include whether the character is a SINner or one of the great unwashed
hordes of SINless. Fake SINs may be purchased for beginning characters.
Use the credstick chart
on page 103 of The Neo Anarchist's Guide to Real Life for costs. Also it must answer most of the questions on this sheet.
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RESOURCE MATERIAL NOTES
1) 'THE SHADOWRUN COMPANION' -- The only options I am currently permitting is 'Edges & Flaws' at a rating of up to 10 points each.
2) Net Stuff -- Any unofficial shadowrun resource and any materials must be pre-approved.
3) All other official FASA resources may be used. Noting legal restrictions above
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LANGUAGE RULES
Here are the first edition language rules: Thanks to Krilion GreyDragon and Charybdis GreyDragon for letting me use thier version of this.
All player characters speak their native language at a rating of their Intelligence +2. So, a character with a 4 Intelligence will speak his native language at 6.
Since the game starts in Seattle in the UCAS, the most common native language is English, but that does not mean your character has to be a native English speaker.
All PCs get a number of points equal to their Intelligence to spend
on foreign languages.
So, a PC with an Intelligence of 4 may spend 4 points on foreign language
skills. If the language chosen is from the same language group as the native
language, then spending
1 point will acquire the language at a rating equal to the PCs intelligence.
For instance, a
PC with an Intelligence of 4 whose native language was English could
spend 1 of his
4 language points on German. He would then speak German at 4 and still
have 3 points left
to spend.
If the language chosen is outside of the language group, then 1 point
spent = 1 point in
the chosen language. For instance, the same PC from the above paragraph
could spend
his 3 remaining points on Japanese and thus speak it at a rating 3.
Certain languages are defined as "special" meaning they have no language family and thus you must always spend full point value for them. These languages include City Speak and Sperethiel (Elvish). No character may chose a special language as his native language.
The language groups are listed in the skill section of the 2nd edition handbook, or you can use the language families from most linguistics textbooks.
Just as a point of reference, since the average Intelligence is 3
and since all characters
start with an Native Language skill of Int +2, that means that the average
person speaks
his native language with a skill of 5, and that is the level at which
I define fluency in a
foreign language.
You may, of course, spend additional points at character creation
or later with karma to improve any language skill if you so desire.
If you have any further questions please feel free to ask:
Mrrlyn